101
by The Sapphic Goddess
Summary: Post 100. "Stealing a kiss is not a crime, it is simply an act of defiance, a profession of one's love for another who cannot be theirs." Brittany shows up in NYC for an internship, Santana gets 500% more hysterical, and Dani grows a rainbow spectrum in her hair. (Told in third-person POV through Dani) [Dantana/Brittana/Brittani]
1. Prologue: The Feeling

**Prologue: **_The Feeling_

The airport was the most genuine of all places, with hellos and goodbyes that revealed more about a relationship than a thirty-chapter book could. For some, it might have been a place of bad memories, of unwilling goodbyes and tight, wet hugs. Others might think that the airport was a point of transition, a gateway to the rest of the world – to freedom. As she strolled along the polished floors (while sashaying to the beat of 'Inner Ninja'), she restlessly played with the phone in her hand, anxious to see a familiar face amidst the sea of strangers flooding the arrival halls.

Dani was never one to stay still; her feet were always moving, and her mind was always wandering. As the beat of the song thumped right next to her brain, she could feel every fibre of her being coming alive, each atom excited from the upbeat rhythm – and perhaps also the prospect of finally seeing her girlfriend after a long, _long_ week. Initially, it had occurred to her that she should have welcomed her Latina with a bouquet of red roses and a love teddy bear. But Dani knew better – Santana was not one to fall for cheesy romantic gestures. For all her spitfire's feistiness and, for lack of a better word, heartlessness, she was sensitive. Santana was a sentimental bitch.

But she was Dani's bitch, and she loved her just as she was.

A week without being physically close to Santana was hard, but it would have been an exaggeration to say that Dani would have died. Sure she loved her with all her heart, but she understood that there was no place for her back in Lima (albeit her girlfriend's sarcastic eye-roll when she says this). She had probably heard a thousand tales of Santana being the big bad cheer-wolf at McKinley High from Rachel during countless "sleepover nights", or, in other words, a little "banggity-bang" in the bedroom, as Kurt liked to call it. Recently, the duo had been referring to Dani as a fourth roommate, simultaneously demanding for her to pay a share of the apartment rent. Until today she still wasn't sure if they were being serious.

A pair of arms encircled her chest and there was a soft tug on her earphones. She inhaled a breath of fresh Latina, and her eyes literally lit up with delight.

"Where's my welcome sign?"

"Right here,"

It was easy for her lips to find Santana's. Quick and accurate – a route that Dani had become accustomed to after the morning of their first sunrise together. The taste of Latina lingered on her tongue long after they had parted, and she could feel the rest of her body craving for more. One week had been way too long.

"I'd take this over cardboard and magic markers any day."

"Oh knock it off, you two." Kurt practically modelled over, posing a cocked eyebrow at the two smitten kittens. "The both of you better keep it in your pants tonight, because I am _so _not in the mood for another one of your disco nights."

Dani chuckled lightly, pulling him in for a friendly hug. "No promises."

There was a short pause before she even thought about mentioning it, but Dani wounded her earphone wires while (attempted to) casually asking, "So, where's Rachel?"

"She decided to take a later flight," And that was it about Rachel Berry for tonight.

* * *

The night went by slowly at first, with the intimate hand-holding in the cab ride back home and the stolen kisses in the backseat as Kurt grumbled under his breath from the front. It felt like Santana had never left in the first place, and that despite the one-week gap, everything just oddly fell into place. Perhaps the nightly Lima-NYC Skype sessions had helped to maintain their temporary long distance relationship, and it led Dani to begin thinking that perhaps the nonsensical difficulties long distance couples constantly droned about was not a 100% fact. A relationship had two people, and if both parties continued to love each other, then what more could it need?

For most of the time there was a particular silence between Santana and Dani, but it wasn't as alarming as it was calming. Feeling her girlfriend's thumb brushing against her skin was enough to keep her content for the hour-long car ride, because it allowed Dani to soak in both the joy of getting back her Latina, and also the secret happiness of quiet cuddling. She could hear the steady thumping of Santana's heart, and it made her feel so much more connected to her at that very moment in time.

Nothing could break them apart. Not right now.

With Santana gone, her shifts at the Spotlight Diner had growingly become dull and mundane. Though it might have been contributed by the fact that the NYADA duo were also missing, the Latina-less life was very much uninteresting and slow. Sunrises suddenly became less enjoyable. Nights became colder and days became monochromatic.

It occurred to Dani that she was becoming more and more reliant on Santana's presence as a source of, well, life. She found herself writing more music as opposed to performing; one night she had fervidly scratched an entire notebook with scrawny handwritings of lyrics and half-songs. It was buried deep somewhere in her pile of laundry, which she made the mental note of doing when she got home.

"If I got a penny for every one of your thoughts, you're going to make me the richest girl in the world."

"No, I'm pretty sure one of those geniuses at Harvard or MIT would give you one penny more."

At this, Santana quieted and did not speak until the next morning. Her thumb continued to stroke Dani's until they reached home.

Dani pegged her silence as tiredness from travelling, and so she left the place with Santana's wordless embrace and kiss. The night was still young, and she could have met up with Elliot for a beer or two, but she decided against it. It was one of those nights where you felt a certain discomfort in your head or heart or body and you don't know how to fix it. It wasn't sadness, because Dani felt relatively happy, with Santana back in town. She had gotten the kisses she missed and the smile she adored. Nonetheless, the dreadful Feeling persisted, all the way from the apartment to the bus stop to the walking pavement and back into her own house.

The Feeling laced her blood as her heart pumped it all through her body; it travelled in her arteries and surged into her brain and lungs. It was like a disease that stuck to her insides and will remain for the foreseeable future.

Dani made the choice to ignore it and started sorting through her laundry.

* * *

Gunther was cranky this morning.

It was the first day of work with Santana back in her usual shift and the day rolled out smoothly. The first thing that Gunther got Santana to do was transferring ketchup and mustard into red and yellow bottles, and this singlehandedly disrupted all of Dani's ideas to sneak butt pinches while she waitressed with her Latina. Guessed they would have to save their Diner Dance for another day.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Dani cheekily smiled, one arm manoeuvring the dirty dishes and the other playing on Santana's skin.

"No pennies," She sighed, intertwining her skinny fingers with Dani's calloused ones. "No thoughts."

"Having fun with the ketchups? Or do you miss your sapphic goddess?"

"No, I'm having fun with the ketchups. I think I'm turning them sapphic."

At this, Dani laughed. The simplest of things that Santana said always amused her to no ends, and this even included her vicious attacks on Rachel. Though she felt sympathetic for her friend, most times she had to forcibly swallow back her laughter.

"Well," Dani leaned over the counter, kissing the bottles of condiments while lustily looking over at Santana. "Ketchups get these then."

She could feel her Latina's eyes burning onto her back (ass, probably?) as she swayed away towards another table. The morning passed by painfully after that, with Santana complaining about sore hands and for Dani to lick the spilled ketchup off of her caramel hands (needless to say, she did that once and left her girlfriend begging for more). Eventually, sunlight and customers began flooding into the booths, and the Spotlight Diner lived on for another day.

Waitresses were busying themselves with double cheeseburgers and chocolate chip milkshakes, and the bell at the door chimed like the song of a thousand sirens (Santana had threatened Gunther that she would yank it right out of its place, but she never did in the end). The sheer commotion of the diner left everyone flustered with quickened shuffles and barely any time for Dani to steal glances at Santana, who was still pumping away at the ketchup bottles.

It was three in the afternoon – halfway through Santana's break but sometime during Dani's shift – when time momentarily stood still. Dani thought that there was some secret superhero hiding in the sea of dining customers who had used his/her superpower while stuck in some world-saving dilemma, but it eventually came down to a tall blonde with a questionable sense of style.

Blue Kitten Sweater, or BKS for short. That was who she became known as from now on till the end of time.

Still, there was something distinct about her (other than her wardrobe malfunction, of course) that caught Dani's eyes – with BKS, the diner suddenly became less dull, and more... whimsical. A palpable tension materialised in the air, and it wafted through the scent of burnt burger patties and salty french fries. She was awkward yet graceful, innocent yet seemingly devilish.

And Dani had to admit – she was pretty. Heck, she was classed between 'HOT' and 'Mamamia', but more so leaning towards the former.

Dani noticed Santana's eyes hovering over BKS. The Feeling suddenly returned in full force.

"Brittany?"

An overwhelming nausea swept over Dani, for God knew what reason.


	2. The Airport Encounter

**Chapter 1: **_The Airport Encounter_

The nausea did not go away, nor did the Feeling.

Light filtered through the coloured tints of the diner windows and created a pseudo-paradise; blue bouncing off red jumping to yellow flashing on white. It was a magnificent and absolutely tantalising view, but there was something unsettling about the way that the colours moved. The heavy lights disillusioned and confused you – a hellish yet heavenly place. But there was a certain beauty to everything that unravelled right before Dani's eyes, be it the stunning illumination or the blindingly atrocious aquamarine sweater.

Who was Brittany? Not her, that's for sure. She's BKS.

As Santana back-pedalled slightly (Santana? Stepping back? Was the world ending?) and stumbled against the invisible chair leaning against the wall, her face flashed an alarmed, wounded-deer look. Watching the Latina was like seeing a pufferfish deflate – she lost all her confidence and flair in the chime of the door-bell. Time froze for a moment at three in the afternoon and Dani stood there, the vertex of a seeming triangle between Brittany and Santana, soaking in the pregnant silence that engulfed the clamour of the diner.

The rest of life overwrote the tenacious stillness in the room, and Dani was forced back into her cha-cha waitressing dance of swerving to miss teenage busboys. The new shiny object, BKS, was being served by Santana, who was still stricken but recovered to some extent. She had a habit of growing sweaty palms and unconsciously rubbing her hands over her work apron (of which Dani had notice whenever she was within proximity to her Latina), and least to say, she was all over that little piece of fabric tied around her waist.

Their conversations were largely inaudible, two soft voices drowned under by a shrieking toddler and a vexed dad trying to coax the monstrous cry. It had definitely occurred to Dani to play a little spy-next-door game with the corner booth that her girlfriend and BKS sat quietly whispering to each other, but she was both too busy to tend to her personal life, and the Feeling was eating away at her intestines that a pain had grown. Her belly ached but still she wore a strained smile on her face, masking the fact that she had so desperately wanted to smack the kid upside-down.

Curiosity overwhelmed her at some points of the afternoon; sometimes it got to the point of taking the first step towards confronting the secret conversation, while others she took a backwards step and reminded herself that Santana could do whatever the hell she wanted. Surely Dani would find out eventually, anyway. A little patience into the mix of curiosity would not hurt anybody, or so she thought.

Twilight was approaching and the sky began to dusk into a nice shade of morose violet. By the time the morning shift ended, the twosome were still going in some conspiratorial planning in the murky corner. As Dani retrieved her pleather jacket from the back of the kitchen, she ambled painfully slowly towards the main diner, hoping that by the time her elongated strides reach the cashier, Santana would be ready to go. By the time she reached the door, her girlfriend was already waiting for her with an unreadable expression on her face. BKS silently stood beside her.

_Was she coming with us?_

"Hey babe," Dani said quietly, leaning in for a kiss. Santana turns her head for a cheek-kiss, catching her partner in an uninvited surprise. "Who's this?"

"Hey. This is Brittany, from my high school days."

BKS beamed a genuine smile and offered a preppy wave. There was a particular sense of cheerleader-ness to the blond, with her bright blue eyes that practically screamed 'I play with dolls but I'm also super-hot, I know'. Her chest pushed out as if she had initially wanted to pull Dani in for a hug, but BKS seemed to have been held back by something. Either way, Dani was glad she hadn't – it would have been a touch of sheer awkwardness.

"Hi, I'm Dani."

"Nice to meet you,"

Dani tasted irony in that sentence; the aches in her belly returned with an intention to kill her.

"Britt's in town for an internship with the research faculty at NYU. I think it's just another group of whacked-up scientists who want to run crazy tests on her but she wouldn't believe me, so whatever trouble _you're_ getting into, I'm not coming to save you."

Smurf Kitten punched Santana playfully on the shoulder, an incredulous eye-raise plastered on her porcelain face. "Stop it, they're nice and they promised to take me out for waffles after every session."

A triangle formation began to form as they headed towards the direction of the bus stop, with Dani as the middle vertex and the other two as the base. The pain had settled into her stomach nicely and she wasn't in any mood to speak, leaving her girlfriend's full attention towards BKS. Of course, there were the constant worried glances that Santana shot towards her, but she ended them with short, it's-okay smiles.

The bus stop (finally) appeared about fifty metres ahead of Dani, and BKS offered to walk the rest on her own after Santana had mentioned that the loft was in the opposite direction. A breeze of winter air blew against them; it was crisp but attacked at Dani like a warlord. Was everything trying to kill her today?

"Well, it was nice meeting you."

"Yeah, hope to see you around. We'll show you the true NYC experience." Dani smilingly said through the chill, teeth grinding against each other and creating even more pain. She could feel the Feeling rising again, but this time with more friends and evil little minions.

Pointedly, BKS turned towards Santana and enveloped her in an intimate hug of friendship.

"Don't forget what I said to you in the library,"

_What did she say in the library?_

_(invisible line-break)_

Coldness continued to seep through her pleather jacket as Dani held onto Santana's warmer hands. The walk back to the loft was largely filled with gaps of silence in between mindless how-was-your-day's and did-you-hear-that-kid-at-the-diner's? There was a thought eating away at Dani, wanting her to ask about BKS but simultaneously not wanting to pry too much. Every relationship had a limit, and with Santana, the limit stopped at bottled-up emotions and 'Brittany'.

They had had one or two talks about 'Brittany' (it felt wrong not to call her BKS) in the past months of being together, but Dani did not have much information to really piece together an opinion towards her. There were no yearbooks and no pictures of Santana's high school days, because she believed that 'high school was fun but it wouldn't be anywhere I want to go back to'. She made high school sound much more complex and miserable, considering that she was head bitch of the school. It dawned on Dani that in fact, she didn't really know much about New Directions or McKinley High. Just the occasional name-drops and the famed quarterback, Finn Hudson, whose death put Santana in a drunk downwards spiral.

'Brittany' was not a conversation starter. There was that one time when Dani had mentioned her to her Latina, and the latter stated that she loved her, but 'it's over'. But how could a high school love end simply with 'it's over'?

"Brittany seems lovely," Dani gazed over at her girlfriend, giving her hand a little squeeze. "Now I finally have a face to put onto her headless image of her in my mind."

The smile that Santana mustered was slightly strained, and she didn't seem too excited about the direction that the conversation was going, as always. "Yeah, she is."

"Movie night tonight?"

"Yeah, okay."

"Oh, come on. You don't want me half-naked on your couch as we watch something in the _dark_?"

"Your hair is going to glow in the dark, y'know. Like a Smurfette."

"Adds some blue-hue kink to it,"

Santana laughed. That was all Dani had planned out to do.

_(invisible line-break)_

Rachel returned to NYC about two days later. She called up Dani on her free afternoon and begged for a ride back to her makeshift home at Elliot's, as he was busy with Kurt at some 'drag queen convention', as Santana liked to call it (it was actually a fashion show, Dani's assuming, but it showed that her girlfriend was coming back into her bitch element and she wasn't going to complain). It was probably a good idea to tell Santana that she was going to see Rachel this afternoon, but it was an even better one to shut up about it for fear of the Cold War starting again.

"Well, I have my night shift today because Gunther thinks I need to make-up for the days that I wasn't in town. Typical asshole." Santana rolled her eyes, already crossed by the fact that Dani had a free day and she wouldn't be able to spend it with her. "I swear, I'm going to take that door chime shit and strangle the hell out of him. Go all Lima Heights on his white ass."

Dani giggled. "There are other days. We could go to the zoo this Saturday."

"Yeah, and throw Gunther into the ringer with a lion."

"I'm thinking no, since you need the job and all."

"I'm going to be casted as Funny Girl, so I don't see why I do."

Of course, Santana was just the understudy, but it was clear that she was not going down without a fight. For nights after the encounter with Rachel (and her eventual moving-out), Dani had sat through countless of aggressive complaints and threats about beating her down from the top and snatching her crown, and guiltily enough it reminded Dani a lot of Toddlers and Tiaras. Two queen bees could not reign one hive at the same time, and so a series of war battles and cat-fights began. Being the neutral person (despite Santana's numerous attempts at 'converting' her through long nights of sweaty sex) and coupled with long waitressing hours and One Three Hill rehearsals, it was seriously taking a toll out of her. Perhaps this was why she had enjoyed the week away from Rach-tana drama a little too much – life was dull, but it was peaceful.

Dani wasn't looking for drama. She had had enough of it with her parents and the whole lesbian thing.

Come to think of it, this BKS chick was increasingly looking more and more like the blond that her parents had caught her with in the basement. She was a sweet thing, a curious junior who didn't think twice about going back home with Dani. In retrospect she was the complete opposite of Santana – quiet and defenceless, but they had one thing in common: defiance. The blond was definitely not Dani's first love, because her feelings for every other girl that she had dated up till now felt completely different from what she had for Santana. It was frightful but thrilling at the same time.

It had been an hour since Dani had walked Santana to the diner and was about three train stations away from the airport. Unconsciously she had hummed 'Here Comes the Sun' under her breath for more than ten stations, and she was not going to stop now. She remembered the first day Santana had come to the diner; she complained to Gunther that the red go-go boots were not her colour, and that she would never wear them in this lifetime.

"I think the boots will make you look hot,"

Dani later swore to Santana that it was a casual and innocent comment, and that she certainly was not trying to flirt with her (it still didn't assure her girlfriend and Santana went on that Dani chased after her, and not the other way around). The next day, Santana showed up to work with the boots.

After that, as she claimed, Dani made her get stinky-panic sweat under her boobs. It was a wonder how a queen-bee goddess like Santana could have such terrible nerves.

There was a buzzing in the back of her pants and she slowly reverted back into the present world. As she swiped her phone from her pocket, she made a mental note that she was already late to pick Rachel up.

"Hello? Dani?"

"What's up Rachel? Have you landed?"

"No, I'm still stuck in Ohio because the people here are incompetent in doing their jobs. Thanks to them, the flight is going to be delayed due to 'traffic issues'."

Dani sighed dramatically albeit mockingly. "No. What's the plan now?"

Faint 'thank you' and 'welcome to Starbucks!' sounded from the background and it became conclusive that if Rachel was getting coffee now, it was going to be a _long_ day for both her and Dani. It was safe to say that the Funny Girl star might very well be stuck in Ohio for more than to her liking.

"Yolanda-at-your-service claims that the flight is due to fly in about an hour, but you know how airport people are. They say one hour and it turns out to be four. This is going be the death of me; if I don't get my beauty sleep tonight, I can't show up for dress rehearsals tomorrow. And I'm not going to let Santana win.

"The airlines is definitely going to hear from my attorney."

"Okay, Rachel, A: you don't have elitist lawyers, and B: what am I supposed to do for four hours at the airport? Catch a flight to Florida and back?"

There was a short pause, the jiggling of keys, and a little safe-swearing uttered under Rachel's breath. All Dani could think of was that she was delving through her travel tote for some type of stress ball, but she was too irritated by the fact that she too was stuck in an airport. The difference was that she was coffee-less, because she refused to buy coffee from some capitalist money-leeching franchise (such as Starbucks).

"Well, I was actually going to move out of Elliot's apartment (it's a lovely place, don't get me wrong, but it's not doing any good for my vocal chords with the paint fumes everywhere – it's not because Kurt is always around now) and into a nice one uptown with my friend. She should be at the airport waiting for me, and maybe..."

"You want me to meet up with a complete stranger?" Dani scoffed, raising an eyebrow. "What is this, a blind date?"

"Well, not exactly..."

"Rachel Berry, if you thought you could ask me to pick you up _and_ help you move out of Elliot's place, you owe me big time." Sighing, she caved to the desperate pleas and whimpers of her friend. "Who is this friend of yours?"

"Don't think of this the wrong way, but," There was a dramatic pause, thanks to the Broadway genes she was born with. Rachel was innately talented at creating suspense during times when people would have stabbed her in the chest.

"Her name's Brittany, and she's San-"

"Oh, Blue Kitten Sweater."

"What?"

* * *

The only thing at the airport cafe that was affordable to whatever Dani had in her pockets was a cup of ice chips, which was actually free. As she sipped the ice water and mouthed each cube every few minutes, her fingers drummed rhythmically on the tabletop, setting up an appropriate beat in her head for one of the songs that she had written in her little black book. The aroma of black coffee was strong; the caffeine in the air engulfed her mind through her nostrils.

Her phone buzzed clamorously on the metal table.

_'Hey babe, what's up?'_

A small smile grew on Dani's face. It was Santana's first of many breaks during her shift and the first thing she always did was to text her _querido_. She tapped a snarky reply and crossed her legs on the bench while sliding another ice cube between her teeth.

_'Gunther's being a bitch again. Drop by after work for the sunrise?'_

It became a ritual for the both of them – if either one of them had a night shift, or both worked together, then they would watch the sunrise in the diner. Sunrises were what brought them together, and it became a symbol of passion and affection. 'You bet. Save me some fries.'

_'Can't wait to see you.'_

A figure in the far distance raised an arm and waved frantically at this direction. Dani could only presume that it was none other than BKS, who today was sporting a knitted beanie with car ears for flaps. There was something in the way that she dressed – from afar, she looked like a childlike spirit that literally skipped her way across the lobby. On the other hand, there was an air of sophistication that hung around her, contradicting this innocent gaiety, and giving her a certain smartness that most people lacked. Santana had once mentioned that BKS was a mathematical genius and had scored a 2400 on the SATs (by shading in a penis in the answer sheets, shockingly). Dani was a broke musician-cum-waitress and scored barely enough to enter any top schools in the city. Sitting here eating ice cubes, she would never have been able to afford an education, anyway.

But that didn't stop her from attending college tours and basking in the experience by sitting outside on the NYU lawn and pretending to be a student.

"Hi Dani," BKS smiled a radiant smile and settled down on the seat opposite of her. "People in New York City are mean. Lord Tubbington was right."

She was silly and whimsical, but she didn't seem like she was mentally challenged. BKS gave off a pure-hearted vibe, and this made it nearly impossible for Dani to be mad at her, let alone suspicious of her. "Lord Tubbington?"

"My cat, Lord Tubbington. He gives good advice, but I can't say the same for Lady Tubbington. She's pretty and everything but all she does is gossip about the neighbour's slutty cat."

It was surprisingly endearing to watch her eyes sparkle with youthful delight as BKS rapidly talked about her two cats. She was charmingly aloof to the rest of her surroundings and lived in her own bubble house of magic stickers and glittered unicorns. Dani sipped another ice cube and it burned the Feeling away, surely but slowly.

"So, how have you and Santana been?" BKS interjected, feigning casualness with a warm smile. "We haven't talked much since I went to MIT and she didn't mention you last week."

_No place for you in Lima, Dani. Just New York._

"It's great,"

What was the right thing to say to your girlfriend's ex-girlfriend? Moreover, she had those puppy-dog eyes that would kill you if you broke her heart. BKS flashed a genuine grin, a pageant smile that promised to solve world hunger and save the dying orphans. The more they talked, the more Dani began to realise that BKS was quite simpleminded for an MIT genius. She enjoyed banana nut muffins (of which she was munching on right this second) and seeing the sun in the sky. She hated cold soup and socks with holes in them. BKS was just like the blue kitten sweater – flamboyant but painfully virtuous.

A nice friendship was knitting the two together, and Dani believed that BKS, Santana and herself could hang out some fine day.

"Why didn't you come to Lima with Santana?"

Dani blinked. "We have this... _rule_... to separate the past from the present."

"I think you should've come; it would've been fun dancing and singing with you. You look like you can do a nice pirouette, and I could've introduced you to Marley! I think she's a closet lesbian because she turned down Ryder and Jake. That's what Lord Tubbington told me."

"I used to take ballet when I was a kid," Letting out a short chuckle, Dani pointed her toes underneath the table. "That's how I got strong thighs. Parents thought they could feminise me, but they put my in a room with other girls in tights. What did they expect?"

"It was nice hanging out with Santana again; she made me feel like we were back in high school except Finn is now in Upstairs Land. I pray to him everyday."

"Do you mean _for_ him? He's not a God-" There are a short pause as Dani's brain lagged behind. "Was high school fun, with Santana, I mean?"

"Santana is always fun. We used to have sleepovers and we would go to glee club and Cheerios practice together. She was my special unicorn."

Perhaps a girlfriend in the right mind would have reacted at the mention of her partner being another's unicorn, but Dani's lips twitched upwards involuntarily.

"We have a secret place in the library where we go during free periods to have sweet lady times, and it was nice when we went there last week. I got mad at the new librarian though – she was a big jerk."

_A whole week, in a secret spot in the library, with your ex-girlfriend who you still loved, but 'it's over'._ Dani cocked an eyebrow, an inward hurricane creating chaos with her emotions. For some moments she liked the fact that BKS was straightforward and simpleminded, but other times she detested it. Such a time was right now. If Santana still had love for BKS, and if there was even a smidgen of it, it was still love. Love was like evil – it grew from a seed buried into the soil and spread like an oak tree.

Dani smiled and let the Feeling conquer her. She decided to overlook BKS's oblivious comment completely – if something did happen during Santana's Lima week, then she would have told Dani.

She was her unicorn now, and unicorns were not to be shared.

* * *

**_# Thanks for the input/support for my first story (except for that Spanish one, because I don't speak Spanish)! Please note that this is a story that can go one way or the other, and the endgame is not determined yet, so feel free to win me over in your reviews. But this story will include Brittana/Dantana/Brittani scenes._**

**_#VOTE4UROTP _**


	3. The Britt-cident

**Chapter 2:** _The Britt-cident_

When Santana found out about Dani's little outing with BKS at the airport, she flipped out. When she interrogated even further and discovered that Dani was at the airport to pick Rachel up, all hell broke lose. When Dani meekly mumbled in incoherence that Rachel was moving in with BKS, that was when that thin line of sanity that separated Santana's Lima Heights thug and sassy New York waitress broke. As her girlfriend began to thrash the household and shriek Spanish profanities to the invisible sprites around the room, Dani sought cover under the dining table (she just prayed that her Latina wouldn't flip it over).

Oh, the hissy fit that Kurt was going to throw when he got home. Santana's little outburst certainly would not amount to the havoc that he was going to bring later today.

Dani might have hailed from a Spanish background, but she could not, for the life of her, understand what the insane woman was going on about. It was like a Spanish Metallica song gone bad. Of course, she had already known that Santana would have reacted badly to the whole Rachel-and-BKS-story, but she never expected that she would throw _such_ a terrible temper tantrum. Perhaps this was the Lima side of her, which Dani seldom saw.

Oddly enough, it was turning her on.

"Okay, Santana, I surrender!" Putting her hands over her head, the cowering girl rolled from under her sanctuary, laying flat on the floor with her eyes shut. "I surrender, I surrender!"

There was a brief moment of silence; with the goose feathers floating everywhere in the living room, Dani swore that she might've seen God for just the split of a nanosecond. Then the tranquility came crashing back down as Santana began her swear-fest again, hysterically going through her girlfriend's small black backpack for her phone. Something was going to go down in the next fifteen minutes.

She practically punched at the screen; Dani winced slightly at the abuse her phone was receiving. It might as well have been the voodoo-doll version of herself.

"Hey Brittany," Charmingly, Santana crooned into the transmitter, a mocking grin smeared across her caramel face. "I was wondering if you and Rachel would like to drop by."

"_Cool! How about dinner tomorrow night?"_

"Um, how about right _now_."

Dial tone.

The Feeling washed over Dani, a massive monster-wave lifting her a few hundreds of feet above the ground and flinging her to no-where. Water filled her lungs and she could barely catch a breath of oxygen; the air in the loft was so thick with tension and anger (and let's not forget the down feathers) that it made it hard to even breathe. She snuck a peek at the disaster that unfolded right before her eyes, a fuming angel that desired to go all Latina on a particular Funny Girl star.

"Babe," It was barely a whisper in the midst of the brewing storm. "Want some peppermint tea?"

"_S__i__,_"

* * *

Santana was not happy. It took her rockstar girlfriend approximately one hour and a few cups of tea to 'calm her tits', soothing her Latina with shoulder massages and ear kisses. At first she had rejected Dani's gestures and attempts to appease her Spanish goddess, but then again, who could resist a sensation such as her? It wasn't long before she managed to prise the saucepan out of Santana's fingers as they shared a long kiss; only when all sharp and hard objects were hidden safely out of her Latina's sight did she heave a sigh of relief. But Dani knew with every bone in her body that Santana didn't need a saucepan to beat the crap out of someone else – all she needed were her fists.

However, just as a precaution, Dani locked the baseball bats in the cabinet and jammed it shut with a seemingly harmless child's hockey stick. She figured that being hammered by a plastic toy would hurt less than an iron bat, and on the plus side, the bright happy pink shade of the murder weapon should make it feel less violent.

There was a knock on the door and she couldn't help but send a silent prayer to the Gods.

"Santana, we're here, and we brought cheesecake!" Oh, how happily the little bluebird had chirped from the other side of the door. Little did BKS know, she was about to step into a minefield.

If only Dani had hung that 'Danger! Danger!' sign (which she had bought jokingly on one of their many misadventures) outside on the door. Maybe she could have stopped an inevitable death today; as she tip-toed across the war field in her compact boots, she slid the door just slightly enough to squeeze her eyes through. She wasn't sure whether she lacked the whole eye-signal game, or if it was BKS who didn't know how to receive a signal, but the blond greeted with a blinding smile. Rachel, on the other hand, wore an ugly grimace that bore traces of pride and ferocity.

"Set the cheesecake aside, Britt."

"What's going on?"

A little fury slipped out of Santana's chest through her animalistic snarl. "Why don't you ask Stumpy over there?"

"Watch what you're saying, because I can get you fired as my understudy! And just you remember that, _I _am the star, and you're going to be the one who cleans up after me. You're always going to be the sloppy second, second to me now and will be forever!"

Rachel had a death wish, and it was about to come true right now. Ten thousand eyelash wishes wouldn't be enough to correct this mistake; Santana glared at the shorter brunette just as how a teacher would reprimand a wayward child, with raving rage. Her lanky arm was up, ready to swerve down forcefully at the goading cheek of her nemesis as punishment for ever raising her voice to _the_ Santana, who was going to be the world's only Spanish non-Jewish Fanny Brice.

"Not a good idea, Rachel..." Dani mumbled, sidestepping to put herself in between her fuming Latina and the tiptoeing diva.

It was Brittany who managed to freeze the heated tension into ice.

"Stop it Santana – violence won't solve anything."

Mockingly, Santana turned to face her ex-girlfriend and crossed her arms, holding back the words that threatened to slip from between her plump lips. "Sure, take her side, take her into your home. But just to remind you, she is _poison_. You think she's America's Adorable Sweetheart but then she'll fuck you up from the back when you're in her way."

She followed with a string of spiteful Spanish obscenities and stepped into Rachel's little bubble of personal diva space. Dani could feel herself slightly hyperventilating as the Latina towered over the smaller brunette, fists clenched at her sides with a determined blaze in her eyes. Someone was going to get hurt tonight – and this was the cold hard truth. One of them was going to step over the line and once that line was crossed, there was no turning back.

"Well, if I'm poison, you're a whore! You practically go around selling your body, in high school, in college, and now in New York! And don't get me started about last week – oh, no – waving your ass around at Rick (or was it Ryan? – whatever) and Puckerman Jr. You parade around like you're all that, but really you're nothing. This isn't high school anymore – you're not at the top of the social pyramid, because now you're at the bottom. You're below me. You're just a skimpy whore from Lima Heights."

But that wasn't the line.

Santana was _so_ close to hitting her. She just breathed, creating a deep valley that rose and fell as she shook with intense anger. But Dani was in the way; she held her girlfriend's hands and prayed hard to every God she could think of that she wouldn't hit her (she was also quite surprised to hear such words coming out of Rachel's mouth, who was a smaller stature than her but nonetheless had an epically large personality).

"I'm going to be the better person here and not hit you,"

Her eyes laid softly on Dani, reassuring her that Rachel was not going to be roadkill tonight, and that Santana was abiding to her girlfriend's wishes. But there was something else in her gesture, another message that she conveyed to another person, as if it were to say 'I did this for you.'

There were four people in the room, and really, there was only one other person that Santana would break down her mad walls for. BKS.

"You whore-kissed Brittany!"

_That_ was the line. A sputtered, accidental comment said in the heat of the moment and with overflowing emotions (ranging from the death of a loved one to the betrayal of her friend to the partial-loss of her identity, the Glee Club) was just enough for this evening to take a turn for the worse.

"_What?_" Dani gaped. "This is where I start calling bullshit."

"_What?_" Santana growled. "You better watch your mouth or you'll lose it, Berry..."

"_What!_" Brittany gasped. "How did you know?"

"_What?_" Rachel quivered. "It was just a shot in the dark, I didn't mean to-"

Dani swallowed slowly. The Feeling returned for its big finale with much gusto, contorting her insides and smothering her lungs with some peculiar strength. She put her hands on her hips and sighed a heavy, exhausted sigh before walking away from the drama scene with a defeated surrender.

"I need some fucking cheesecake,"

_-(invisible line break)-_

Emotions brimmed over her and cascaded along the ivory piano keys; sadness slithered between the gaps with the fluidity of water, entangling itself with what remnants of contentedness that used to circle around Dani like a fiery aura. Shock delved in stealthily, swimming with force like thorny vines that punctured into her bloodstreams and tugged tightly onto her alabaster skin.

Anger, however, was missing.

She tried to make herself mad. Was Dani that daft, that even when she caught her significant other cheating on her while thousands of miles away, she did not feel even the slightest bit of resentment? There were no threatening thoughts of wanting to storm out of the room when the Britt-cident was revealed, and no revengeful desires of breaking a certain Spanish heart in return. Instead, she grabbed the nearest fork on the counter and, without another word, started attacking at the cheesecake with an intention.

Santana made her peppermint tea and sat there watching the cheesecake disappear, one bite at a time. It was quite surreal, really. By that breaking point Yentl didn't existed nor mattered to the Latina anymore – she had shed her goddess ensemble almost immediately, striping away to just a touch away from her core.

There was just silence. No arguments, no tear-stricken cheeks, no make-up sex. Just plain silence.

She sighed, taking another swig at the cheap, tasteless beer. Dani hated the fact that she wasn't galled at all – she was mad at herself for not being mad at the right person. It was just a kiss, right? A simple peck on the lips, skin on skin, a quiet, small touch, and nothing more? In what universe could such a pure action of love between two best friends be considered catastrophic, or apocalyptic, even?

_Apocalypsticks._ She groaned and took another swill.

But it was a stolen kiss, and that was what Dani couldn't ignore – a stolen kiss was a clear act of defiance, a deep profession of one's passionate love for another that alas, who cannot be theirs. A stolen kiss was just as criminalistic as the intimate but accidental brushing of shoulders between wandering strangers, and the innocent eye conversations made between two makeshift lovers.

A person was not a property, and perhaps she was beginning to understand that a pair of lips cannot be owned. It would always remain shared.

Shared through the air when she waited on hungry customers and spoke with Elliot or Kurt. When she yelled in exasperation at Gunther's otherworldly behaviour. When she devoured half of the cheeseburger sadly, then the entire thing when 'Lady Hummel' coaxed her. When she licked her chapped lips shyly upon being caught in the act of watching Dani. When she pouted and pretended to look the other way.

She detested it. Not the fact that Santana had cheated (allegedly; how could a small lip-peck be considered an act of infidelity?!), but that it created a ripple effect and now caused awkwardness to waft about in the atmosphere like everyone's best friend forever. Dani wanted to amble over, confident in her rhythmic strut, and lay a sweet one on her Latina's face. Everyone knew that it was human convention to stay mad at the partner when they _'cheated_' in a relationship, but she just couldn't.

So what was it that stopped her from flitting back into Santana's arms?

"Hey, Dani, for the umpteenth time-"

A snap back into reality. She was seeping into her thoughts more often than before. "Hm, what, huh? Sorry."

"I know it's heartless of me for asking you to come for OTH rehearsals today, but our performance tonight needs to be absolutely pristine because there's hearsay of a huge dinner gathering of record label producers, and it would be the perfect opportunity to get signed."

"Oh, I'm fine! Definitely pumped for tonight; we're going to take down the house, that's for sure."

The boy sat there, pausing for a moment while he dazzled Dani with his exquisite porcelain skin. She began to wonder how much his skincare costed him. "I just want to apologise again, for Santana. She's feeling miserable and un-Satan-like that it feels really unsettling. She stopped all the name-calling and is almost _nice_."

Honestly, it was odd listening to her bandmate talking to her about Santana like she was an estranged friend. She knew her wholesomely, inside and out, and yet the relationship remained tainted as ever; then again, in retrospect, just how much about Santana did Dani really know at all? Anything beyond Lima was off limits, and it was actually quite unreasonable for her (ex-)girlfriend to have kept it hidden.

Kurt and Rachel talked more about McKinley than Santana had, and those were the two prime targets for tidbits on their high school life together. At times the things they would say could entertain Dani for hours, but usually the nostalgic walk down their memory lanes would astonish her.

It was even more amazing when she heard that Santana had pulled out of Funny Girl, and _heck_, she even made up with Rachel because she didn't have the energy to get out of bed, let alone bicker with the Jewish diva (who consistently, for days, sat at Santana's bed at 5AM with a tray of fluffy scrambled eyes, two sausages, a tall glass of orange juice, and her sincerest apology told in the utmost annoying morning voice).

Perhaps it was for the best. Santana was an incredible singer, but she never was much of a broadway buff.

"Alright. Enough of this; are you ready?"

Dani winked. "When am I ever not?"

For the rest of the afternoon the Feeling slept soundly in her chest; having not bothered her since the Britt-cident over at the loft, it furtively gathered its energy while behind curtains for its special encore tonight.

* * *

(7:01 PM)

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and esteemed guests," Kurt suavely melted into the room through the boom box, an eye cocked towards the producers and his little concocted fan-base from Lima.

Dani eyed the crowd with an apprehension that easily slipped into her throat. When she spotted Santana, BKS, and a whole other bunch of musical misfits in fancy clothes sitting together, bile threatened to come up.

There wasn't room for her in Lima, so Lima came to New York – to _her – _instead.

For fuck's sake.

"I give to you... One Three Hill."

* * *

(7:45 PM)

Elliot's voice echoed mellifluously and devoured the ambience; the audience watched, awe-struck, with the stillness of a flowing river.

"_How lucky can one guy be? / I kissed her and she kissed me / Like the fella once said / Ain't that a kick in the head?_"

* * *

(8:12 PM)

"_I can't seem to face up to the facts / I'm tense and nervous and I can't relax,_"

"_I can't sleep 'cause my bed's on fire / Don't touch me I'm a real live wire,"_

"_Psycho Killer / Qu'est-ce qu c'est / fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better,_"

"_Run run run run run run run away!_"

* * *

(8:31 PM)

"Let's slow the night down a little, shall we?" Kurt grinned into the microphone, a happiness and excitement so infectious that the audience couldn't help but return the favour with toothy smiles. His fiancé (Blaine, Dani believed he was) blew him a loving kiss from his dining seat.

"Here is Dani everyone, while Elliot and I shall prepare for our next and final set for the night."

And with a wink, he was gone, leaving the nerve-wrecked singer with her piano scores, clammy fingers, and bruised ego on the stage. She took a deep breath and flashed a small smile at the invisible (naked, to her mind) audience.

Maybe imagining Santana naked wasn't a good idea.

_Here goes nothing._

"_You called me out and taught me tough / With love, with love. / You fought my flaws, my teeth, my claws / With love, with love. / Cause every time I'm slipping away from myself,_"

Dani looked up, only to see a hundred pairs of eyes watching her emotions with attention.

"_You're the one that moves me like nobody else._"

The coolness of the piano keys were helping her cope with the dissipating nerves. Eyes burned holes into her skin; there was a certain vulnerability to her choice of song, to the huskiness that laced lusciously into her soprano voice, and she knew, fully, that the audience knew, every word she sang came from her soul.

"'_Cause when I'm down and I'm done / And I'm coming unplugged / When I'm ready to fall / You're the one always holding me up / With love._"

She could still taste the creamy cheesecake on the tip of her tongue.

_-(invisible line break)-_

(8:59 PM)

"Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to thank all of you for coming, and being absolutely the grandest of audiences. And here, once again for the last time tonight, One Three Hill."

Elliot, and in all of his toned-down glittered glory, stepped up.

"_Born from the Soldiers Arms / But our spirit keeps a moving on / And, one meter at a time we'll fall / It's a bloody hill and a broken wall._"

This was one of Dani's favourites. It would be a crime for her not to enjoy this.

"_We've been singing like a lunatic / Knee deep in our milk and sticks / Just a kid with a broken arm / It's sling shot ahead of harm_."

The spotlights flickered like there wasn't a tomorrow; it made her believe that this was a dystopia, a world of flashing colours that mingled, sexed each other and made babies. It felt like a great big deja vu, and yet she didn't care. She was having the time of her life.

"_Just like the rest / You'll be coming back if you're looking for paradise,_"

"_The silver line it separates your body from your mind / What a mess we're in_,"

"_There's a monster in my head / There's an animal screaming down upon my neck / Oh no, you better get up my friend / Oh you know you better run my friend!_"

The Feeling roared like an awaken lion.

_-(invisible line break)-_

The best adjectival noun that could possibly represent that show was 'Life'. The stage virtually came alive, the hardwood floors of the stage thumping to the beat of the drums and slick bass line, the walls reverberating the sweet harmonies of the threesome. It was Life – as big, as complex, as grandeur, as unpredictable, as refreshing, and as wild.

Dani was still humming the song under her breath, buzzed from the music and applause of the audience. The night was terrific and she felt invincible with pumping adrenaline.

"You guys rocked my socks off," Fish face grinned sheepishly, hands widespread and about to take Kurt in for an enormous hug. "That was frigging awesome!"

Blaine pushed past him with a dignified glare, "Hands off my rockstar, Sam, the fiancé gets the first hug."

"Hey!"

"You'll get your turn, Sam," Rachel giggled girlishly, resetting the position of her beret. "The setlist was amazing; I turned back to look during Dani's little solo (which was, by the way, just delicious) and the producers were definitely nodding their heads in a good way!"

Dani smiled. "Gee, thanks, Ray – I don't know what to say, I'm still high off of the adrenaline. Everyone literally looks like red and purple Smurfs to me."

"Pretty sure you're the only Smurf around here," One of the guys from Kurt's crowd smirked condescendingly, but earned a small punch from the blond which his shoulder hung loosely around. "I'm Puck, and anyway, you killed it tonight. Quinn and I loved it."

There was a huge cacophony of congratulations and thank you's shot from one end to the other as shot glasses were pushed around (each member of One Three Hill were forced to drink three ugly tequila shots to begin with, because really, what was an after-party without a booster?). It didn't take long for Kurt to turn from alabaster to vermilion, and for Elliot to metamorphose into his inner glam-rock fashion diva.

Dani, on the other hand, learned to throw drinks behind her back when no one was taking notice of her.

Everyone started to break into a song, as bizarre as that seemed to Dani; it was like catching a flash mob that consisted of drunken young adults who were shrieking every lyric in slurred speech. She contemplated whether to participate or not.

"Hey," A small voice travelled from her side, and she found Santana standing there, looking phenomenal as always in the form-fitting cobalt blue dress. Her ensemble made it appear as if Dani's hair was part of it, like a package deal. "Great job tonight. You were amazing."

Dani tipped her beer to the purple umbrella in Santana's drink. "Thanks,"

"You are amazing,"

Intonation was everything, and that comment could go three ways. Emphasis on the first word ("_You_ are amazing,") would have effectively meant that Santana was flirting. Emphasis on the second word ("You _are_ amazing,") would also have meant that she was flirting. Emphasis on the last word ("You are _amazing_,") would also mean that she was flirting.

It was safe to say that Santana was flirting. Still, she wasn't convinced.

"That was better than that time when I was seven and accidentally got high off of Robitussin." Brittany grinned, pulling Dani into an impromptu embrace that she was completely not ready for. "It was awesome,"

"Our performance or your trip?" Dani joshed, frantically trying to swallow down a little rock that implanted itself in her throat.

"Both, but maybe the trip a little more. That's only because you didn't have talking unicorns with shiny manes on stage, though. No offence or anything."

She pushed out a laugh through her throat obstacle. "We'll look into that for you, Britt."

Santana's butt clenched when Dani used BKS's nickname (yes, she was staring at her voluptuous body, but who wouldn't when she was in that dress?).

"If you get me a talking unicorn, I'll love you forever."

"I'll get you a drunken unicorn, because they're tons more fun to talk to."

The Latina, who was no longer Dani's, excused herself as she yanked Brittany towards the dance floor. Needless to say, her face was flushed, but Dani wasn't sure whether if she was blushing (after noticing that her ex-girlfriend had been staring at her), angered (because Dani was stealing BKS's attention), or simply drunk.

Let's just settle with drunk for now.

* * *

_**#I just watched episode 13 and I'm a whole mess of feelings. I'm torn for Dani, but at the same time it's Brittana game time again and the chemistry between them whenever they come on screen is undeniable. Sorry for making this chapter a long wait, and I hope the length would make up for it. I would also like to thank everyone who took the time to write reviews, I read every one of them at least ten times and gush over them like a little girl. **_

_**#The songs used, in the respective order, are: Ain't that a Kick in the Head (Robbie Williams), Psycho Killer (Talking Heads), With Love (Christina Grimmie), Milk & Sticks (Boy & Bear). I spent quite some time picking the right songs for the trio so that it fits each of their registers, because I'm a bit psycho and neurotic like that. Please don't judge me. **_

_**#By this time, everyone has graduated. Even Finn. Note that the younger Glees (Marley, Jake, Ryder, Kitty, etc.) were not in the last scene.**_

_**#Know that I keep a record/score of the whole Dantana-Brittana-Brittani thing. I have not chosen an endgame yet because I want to see what direction the story will take. For the last time, this story WILL definitely include all three pairings some time, in one way or the other, be it as lovers or as friends.**_

_**#Any other pairings that you would like to see in particular? And are my paragraphs way too chunky to your liking?**_

_**#Thanks again, guys. Peace until next time;**_


	4. The Owl Eyes

**Chapter 3: **_The Owl Eyes_

"It tastes like pink!"

Super-drunk, super-heroine Rachel Berry zoomed over the ledges along the road pavements, right heel knocking at the left as she stumbled across with a bottle of white champagne in her hand. It was a game that they played, pretending to be superheroes – everyone was allowed to be a super _you_. Elliot and Kurt took the lead in the party's valiant march down the streets of New York City, flaunting a haughty flair that smashed through the darkness of the night.

"It tastes like _p_-"

Dani yanked her back into formation and let out a short burst of nervous laughter. "Ray, I know your super-voice can break through walls and stuff, but your broadway tunes aren't going to help you with the street thugs around here, so please-"

"Shut up!" Drunk, slurred words materialised beside the sober rockstar, and a heavy arm hung around her neck. She could practically taste the whiskey and coke in the warm breath that touched the bare skin of her neck.

Of course, who could it be but the Les-bionic to make her feel drunk with attention despite not even feeling the slightest bit of a buzz?

"_It's just the start of the winter / And I'm all alone / And I've got my eye right on you,_"

It was a surprising coherent addition to the garbled voices that choked the summer air. The lyric rang strong and clear to Dani; she whipped her vision backwards (which, regrettably, pushed Les-bionic away), putting herself in a dizzy spell. However, what caught her dark eyes was BKS unconsciously – albeit drunkenly – doo-wopping and skee-dipping to another one of the songs from the back of her unicorn mind.

"_Give me a coin and I'll take you to the moon / Give me a beer and I'll kiss you so foolishly,_"

A retort belted from between Dani's lips, and she couldn't help but send a sheepish grin towards her direction. The slurring mess in the background echoed through the night sky (even the stars went to hide); Sam rushed over to the corner of an alley to spew up whatever hard alcohol he had taken in as Blaine giggled and Puck guffawed at the fallen hero. Rachel went ahead on another rant about Funny Girl (and tearing slightly about Finn), while Quinn held her hand and swung them in a synchronised rhythm to their footsteps.

They lost the Asian Duo sometime ago.

"_Like you do when you lie, when you're not in my thoughts,_"

"_Like you do when you lie and I know it's not my imagination._"

BKS applauded giddily, "You sing better than the cricket that sings to me when I wake up in the morning. He doesn't have blue hair and wear shiny leather jackets, but he does have a bling-ring."

"You're not so bad yourself with those dancing shoes," With a cocked eyebrow, Dani's eyes darted down at her kitten flats. The ears flapped rigidly upwards, making them look eerily alive. "Moves like those could get you far in New York."

"You really think so?"

"I think if you love something, go for it."

A modest grin broke across BKS's doll-face, her blue star eyes shining like northern stars as they momentarily – just the quintillionth of a second – shot towards the drunk and staggering Les-bionic. The Feeling gurgled slightly, bubbling like bad medicine in her stomach, as Dani pretended not to recognise the undeniable connection between Santana and Brittany.

"I want a horse; I'll teach him to believe in magic and he'll grow a horn, become a unicorn and poop rainbow colours."

"How about I find you a gay rhinoceros, they're pretty much the same thing. Sort of, I think."

BKS clapped her hands together, face lighting up with the burning brightness of a million universal stars. She was so pure, so refined, and so transparent – it was like looking at a smudge-free mirror, a reflected image of yourself that appeared more real than surreal. Despite her guileless panache, the way that she saw people was more accurate than when Dani threw darts – spot-on, and right on the bull's eye.

But like a mirror, BKS was fragile to rough-handling.

"Seeing Santana makes my heart dance, and then my feet dances because they're connected."

Dani simply smiled with sober sobriety.

_-(invisible line break)-_

Over the next course of days, business was as usual at the Spotlight Diner. Dani was increasingly spending more and more time being a waitress, part-time bandmate of One Three Hill and full-time rockstar, leaving virtually no time for herself. She figured that there was only twenty-four hours in a day, so why waste one of it mourning over losses?

The Glee Club, or Unison of Gleesome (as she liked to call them after their drunk night and hangover morning), showed up periodically throughout the entire day – Artie would roll his way in with Blaine, who only comes when Kurt was around; Puck and Quinn would arrive sometime in the late afternoon, smelling of hotel room bedsheets and summertime love; Mike and Tina would sway themselves towards the corner booth in sync; Mercedes would show up nightly with her fuax-huahua and Blaine, once again.

"Hey Dani," Rachel sashayed over, putting her elbow on the counter and eyeing the girl with curiosity. "When was the last time you went out?"

Continuing with the mundane pumping of filling ketchup and mustard bottles, Dani shrugged easily. "I'm out right now, aren't I?"

"I mean out-_out_, as in just for fun."

"One Three Hill rehearsals _are_ fun,"

The broadway diva made a squelching noise with her mouth; the hand on the counter had been withdrawn to her side and a look of incredulous annoyance washed over her face. But what Rachel was trying to say was true, Dani had internally accepted it without a doubt. The latter was slowly becoming anchored to her work and sinking down under, with only a half-empty tank of oxygen strapped onto her back.

Rachel clicked her tongue. "You should come with us tonight; we're going to this place over at Madison Square. It's an open mic, open-stage and they let anyone and everyone to make impromptu performances. You should come – it'll be fun! We can totally do a broadway number together."

Broadway was never Dani's niche – it had always been everyone else's that she had surrounded herself in. Heck, even Elliot could pull it off, with his melodramatic élan that would hypnotise people of all sexualities in the theatre. In high school she had never actually paid much attention to the glee club, truthfully, because they always lost out to Vocal Adrenaline or Throat Explosion or New Directions.

High school seemed so far away, except for the whole basement she-bang. The only thing she remembered about being an angsty teenager was playing guitar in her room and playing competitive lacrosse to vent out her anger.

"Broadway is not my thing, sorry."

"Come on," Grabbing the filled bottle of ketchup and fastening the cap, Rachel whined as she waved to Blaine as he entered through the diner doors. "Brittany said you danced."

"Back when I still fit in my baby ballet shoes, maybe."

"Come anyway – please? If you won't dance then we can perform something else that's more rockstar and more _you_... we'll give you the whole Glee Club experience."

But what Rachel didn't know was that sure, Dani was a supreme rockstar, but at times that wasn't all that she did. High school was a place where people defined themselves (the geeks or the freaks) and she was one of those lost ones who tried out anything and everything but was still largely displaced in the end. Even today she wasn't absolutely sure where she was going.

Working in a diner for two years already really said something about the direction that she was heading in.

"Any drum sets there?"

* * *

The black box was called 'The Audition Amphitheatre'. Certainly, it wasn't what Dani had expected – the talented nobodies who filled the myriad black glossy seats were not all the broadway enthusiasts that would chop heads off just to watch _Funny Girl_ in the front-row seats. They were much more distinct, and much more alternative than the current circle of gleeful individuals around her.

Her hair wasn't even conspicuous here, because there were the platinum blond, mossy green, electric blue, wine red, and every other shade of the rainbow shining like a rare constellation.

Dani sighed. There was something about this place that made her feel at home. Maybe it was the dark stage or the interesting crowd of musicians, but she felt at ease here. Hidden in the darkness, all people would hear would be her voice alone.

The Glee Club shrieked delightedly; as always, Rachel hurried over to the stage, head held high and ready to flaunt the phenomenal power of her voice and wow every god-damn person in the dark theatre. She hadn't even reached the stage pedestal before it was taken by an offbeat group of college girls.

In the seat behind Dani, Santana whispered to Brittany that the redhead was "making my lady parts jingle."

"Her hair looks like caramel and I want to eat it,"

At the Audition Amphitheatre, there were no introductions of names and no minutes of empty silence. Something was always going on; if you were good – or even interesting – enough, people would come to you for your name. It was the matter of imprinting good impressions on the audience, but most particularly the constantly-seeking record label producers who laid awaiting like hungry sharks in the sea of masses.

These girls put the _alt_- in alternative. In fact, they were an accurate all-female version of Rachel and Kurt's Glee Club.

An explosive harmonised mash-up reverberated against the padded walls of the theatre; Dani felt a competitive vibe from the others, and she figured that this was probably a deja vu situation for them. Perhaps this was what glee club, regionals and nationals and whatnots were about – being in the murderous mentality and wanting to slaughter anyone who were able to sing _Happy Birthday._

And she couldn't keep her eyes off of the brown-haired lead, who wore too much eyeliner not to be lesbian (as Santana would say). Surely enough, her hispanic ex was fully aware of this, and showed her sheer contempt by snapping surly comments at Brittany about their "distasteful dance moves that insults the feminism advancement."

Rachel rose tensely, a bullet loaded and ready to be fired. "Come on guys, let's show them how this is done."

"Are you serious?" They were good, Dani understood, and this was a casual outing, so why was Rachel turning this evening into an all-out massacre?

The two musical groups brushed past each other and exchanged death glares. Of course, trust a hotheaded diva like Berry to turn a night of casual fun into a Hunger Games scenario. Dani rolled her eyes.

"Try not to die," Eyeliner Lead winked and deliberately brushed her arm against hers. "And at least try to look like you're having fun."

"Oh, walk away, Owl Eyes."

"(Santana, shut up!) Yeah, no... yeah... nah."

Owl Eyes flashed an amused smile. "Try, for me. Dazzle me."

Dani's breath hitched and her voice pitch rose slightly. Something was going on and she didn't like any bit of it; this stranger wore herself with some confidence and a snark that reminded her too strongly of a white Santana that caked on eyeliner like it was eyeshadow. Her hand unconsciously travelled through her rough hair and she almost choked.

Well, this was embarrassing.

"Why should I?"

"You interest me," Again, Owl Eyes winked, but this time with a smirk that sat comfortably on her scarlet lips. They smelled like the green apples chap-stick. "Good luck."

"Okay,"

Somewhere behind Dani, Santana brooded and mentally staged an elaborate "accidental" death for Owl Eyes.

* * *

She finally got the infamous Glee Club experience that Rachel mentioned in the diner before; to be honest, Dani felt slightly out of place. There were the occasional swaying in the background and humming vocals as she attempted to figure out how these people could spontaneously jump on the stage and perform any random song pristinely. This was harder than the calculus exam she failed in in her junior year.

But man, she had to admit that these kids had a whole lot of talent. Brittany danced with such grace that fire echoed every step that she took, body manoeuvring in ways that, as Dani believed, only NYADA dancers could. It was not to be distracted by her; then again, so were the intense bursts of energy-exchanges between Santana and Brittany.

Sometimes she found herself stranded in between their exchanges and stumbled to catch onto their little dance number.

"Come on, OTH-style!" Kurt scream-whispered into Dani's ear, pulling her right to the edge of the stage and in full view of Owl Eyes's vision. She couldn't help but feel a slight sense of vulnerability.

Thank God – it was finally her turn.

"_Call your girlfriend, I think it's time you talked / Give your reasons, say it's not her fault / But you just met somebody new_,"

Owl Eyes flashed a knowing grin, body leaning forward with an excited anticipation that made Dani feel a smidgen of giddiness. At the same time, she could nearly taste the rage that Santana was fuming with, a smoking fire of irritation and jealousy (as Dani saw her odd behaviour as). The only time the Latina acted as so was when Dani was handling flirty customers at the diner, but still, the former had been her girlfriend.

She wasn't Santana's anymore, and clearly, it appeared that Brittany was beginning to take on the 'girlfriend' status, so what right did she have in being mad?

"_Then you tell her that the only way her heart will mend / Is when she learns to love again / And it won't make sense right now / But you're still her friend / And then you let her down easy._"

* * *

"Hey, you did well tonight."

"You're one to talk, stranger danger. When I saw your blue hair I thought you'd be singing some punk-rock I-hate-my-parents crap, but you didn't. Blow me away with Robyn instead."

"Me? I'm pretty sure the surprise here is you – rocking that eyeliner and an all-girls a cappella group? You shouldn't be calling the kettle black,"

"I got eyeliner game, and what does that have anything to do with being in an a cappella group?"

"I don't know, it's like putting a lesbian in some Christian convention?"

"So you think I'm a lesbian?"

"Is this a trick question?"

"You gotta stop answering my questions with more questions,"

"(Shut up, Santana, I'm talking to somebody!) A habit I caught from being in too many police situations."

"Is that a joke?"

"Take it as you want to,"

"Your friends seem adamant on you leaving. Will I be seeing you soon?"

"(Santana, just get the cab to wait for a bit!) Jesus Christ. Um, well, you don't live far do you?"

"Depends on how you define far; is Atlanta, Georgia considered far?"

"(Holy shit Santana, one more time, and I swear-) Atlanta? You came all the way here just to see me? I'm quite flattered."

"Sure, because they don't have smurfs back at home."

"Grow up. Anyway, I think I should go before my friend traumatically scars the cab driver by running through the walls."

"Legit uptight diva or just an ex?"

"Let's save fun conversation topics for the next time we meet,"

"Deal,"

"Deal."

Santana emerges from the doors. "Dani, the cab?"

"Okay already,"

Dani begins to stalk off, back to Santana and face to Owl Eyes. She almost trips but catches herself without anyone noticing except the two women she is sandwiched between.

"It's Becca, by the way. Becca over at the Hyatt,"

"Dani over at the Spotlight Diner. Yellow-pages me – good luck with that."

"Okay,"

* * *

**_#I'm not sorry. Welcome the Barden Bellas, bitches._**

**_#It was an opportunity and I took it._**

**_#This is is how a love rectangle (pentagon, later maybe?) is formed._**

**_#Thumbs up for it-tastes-like-pink Rachel Berry and the entrance of jealous, sassy Santana?_**

**_#Respectively, songs used are Loving Strangers (Jocelyn Pook) and Call Your Girlfriend_**_ (Robyn)._


	5. The Pink Straw

**Chapter 4: **_The __Pink Straw_

It had just been six hours since Dani last saw Becca and she was already waking up with her phone in hand, waiting for a morning greeting text or call. The screen flashed on but she was met with disappointment; they had spent the entire night chatting each other up over at the Spotlight Diner, and she was pretty sure that they had had a good time. Becca had an espresso (yes, at one in the morning), Dani had a chocolate milkshake, and after some demanding on the former's part, they both shared a plate of cheese fries.

"Aren't you hungry? I'm starving," Becca groaned, plopping down into the booth chair with an incredulous furrow of her brows. "How do you not eat the food while you're waitressing? I'll never understand your job."

Squeezing into the seat opposite of her, Dani rolled her eyes and drummed the table. "When you actually see how it's made, it actually kind of kills your appetite."

"Aren't you supposed to be advocating about the soulful tastes of fine diner cuisine?"

Dani laughed, "After two years of this crap, I've never had the inclination to say anything good. Okay, maybe the whole Broadway-themed restaurant is pretty cool because it's in the Big Apple, but honestly-"

"Dani, I'm hungry. Go be a waitress and get me food."

The two exchange playful gazes; it had been quite some time since Dani felt that nausea in her stomach. She wasn't complaining – it was a good kind of discomfort, something that Santana used to give her and, perhaps for a minute or so in the distant week that passed, Brittany. This Becca character was doing some serious damage to her heart.

She threw some salt onto the a cappella songstress and yelled with pseudo-spite, "Witch!"

That basically set the tone of the rest of their little twilight escapade. Thinking back while sitting against the backboard of the bed frame, Dani found herself checking and re-checking her phone every few seconds, secretly hoping that she had missed feeling the phone vibrate in her hand. After the next ten minutes, she conceded with defeat and got up to ready herself for the rest of the afternoon.

She scrutinised herself on the mirror, fingers twirling her coarse hair as she cleaned her eyes out with her other hand. Perhaps it was time for a colour change; meeting Santana had been one of her more upbeat memories, and shortly thereafter she had decided to dye her blond hair blue. It was at times of sheer happiness that drove her to do gutsy things – one thing was actually going ahead with the whole Glee Club experience over at The Audition Box, and now it was another dye job.

Blue is the Warmest Colour.

That was a good movie, Dani thought to herself. It captured the reality of a relationship so well that it drove her all the way to dying her hair blue – but of course, this was also contributed by her Latina's entrance into her life. Then again, Santana wasn't hers anymore.

Well, as Ray once said...

"If it tastes like pink, then why not pink?" Dani mumbled to herself, grinning at her choice.

The phone dinged from her bedroom, and she frolicked to retrieve it, feeling chirpier ever since Santana had broken it off with her.

_-(invisible line-break)-_

"Oh my God Dani, your hair!"

Detective Sherlock Berry cautiously touched Dani's newly dyed mane, a look of dazzled shock washing over her face. Seeing her new appearance was like meeting a completely different person, because this pink stranger seemed much more cheery and lighthearted than the usual shade of dark blue. As Kurt came along to join in with the prodding and stroking of the new coloured hair, Blaine decidedly took a few touches too.

"Totally your colour, y'know what I'm saying?" Blaine flashed a mocking look towards her, raising an eyebrow and pitching his voice higher. "Dang, girl. What made you decide to do this?"

Dani shrugged. Really, was it necessary for them to know that she had gone pink because she was moving on from Santana? Or the fact that Becca was actually squirming her way through the ribcage and right into her heart? She couldn't quite tell, but by this time Santana had arrived into the diner, hand-in-hand with Brittany, and suddenly Dani was sure.

Her hair was pink because she had met Becca. But it certainly was not because she was over Santana, not _completely_ anyway.

Santana stared, moon-eyed, seemingly flabbergasted by the newly invented (or, a better way of putting this, newly updated) Dani. It was like watching one of those diner kids choking – oxygen was going into her body but not to her head. The Latina almost looked upset.

Did giving up the blue meant that she had given up on Santana as well?

After flashing a small, shy smile, Dani pushed past the crowd and wiggled through the doors, hiding herself in the kitchen. The chefs and other waiters nodded at her hair in acknowledged acceptance, except for Gunther's unimpressed shaking head.

She reached over for the packets of straws and positioned them underneath her arms. Today was straw-refilling day, and she had always liked to allocate the different coloured straws while she sat at one of the booths. She would put them in the order of the rainbow spectrum – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, pink...

It was a mundane activity, but it left her brain in a somewhat numbed state, and she liked every bit of it.

Why did Dani choose to escape any and all opportunities for Santana to start a conversation with her, she would never figure it out. As she sorted through the plastic with clumsy, calloused fingers, she began to contemplate just how stupid she was acting. Brittany and Santana were officially a thing now, and this surprised Dani to some great extent a few nights ago (with the company of two crates of beer, she guessed). She picked the single pink straw from the pile of purple, holding it lightly between her two index fingers.

"Hey Dani," The Latina shoved herself into the booth seat on the other side, feigning an atmosphere of casualness that felt unfitting. "What's up?"

"Oh, you know... straws and stuff."

Santana grabbed the bag closest to Dani (her hand brushed past the new hair, and Dani almost closed in for an actual skin-on-skin touch) and began to sort through the coloured mess. Her lips moved in ways that wanted to say something, but it seemed like she was holding back something.

"So, you know how... I... with Brittany, and..."

Dani nodded at her counterpart, the Feeling driving through her bloodstreams at the speed of infinity. "Yeah."

"I hope you're okay with that... and, I-"

"I'm fine, Santana. I hope she will make you as happy as I did, or probably more."

That probably struck a nerve; a sudden wave of guilt suddenly washed over Dani and she lost concentration in whatever she was doing with her hands. She wasn't trying to be bitter and make her ex-girlfriend uncomfortable, but there was a negativity just oozing out of her system.

Santana decided to ignore whatever was said and carry on with the conversation with a taut smile. "How are you and Owl Eyes? Girlfriends yet?"

Distaste covered her questions, and Dani knew that the Latina was simply being her snarky self, but this time it intensified tenfolds and was directed at a target that both girls would never have thought it would be: Dani. The jealousy was evident and in clear view of the diner – when Kurt glanced over worriedly, they had to reassuringly wave their hands and blatantly demonstrated how chummy they were with a shared hearty laugh.

"Her name is Becca, Santana." With a roll of her brown eyes, she chucked the coloured straws into its holder. "And we're friends, nothing more, I mean, we did just meet her like a week ago."

"I see the way she stares at you, and the way you stare at her – totally not a friends vibe between you two."

"You've been watching me? Us?"

She stuttered a bit, drying her clammy palms on her uniform with a stunned expression on her face. "No, no, I've just been working on my shift and you two were just... within my proximity of hearing..."

"Whatever you say,"

But what Santana did next caught Dani completely off-guard; for that brief flicker in time and space, it almost felt as if there had not been an ending, and that this was the in-between where everything was just hunky-dory. As the Latina grabbed the pair of fair hands (the straws scattered all over the tabletop), Dani melted right into her ex's.

As quick as the happiness setted in, it faded with the snap of the fingers.

"I still love you,"

Dani fumbled to find words, but luckily for her, she forgot what the alphabets were and what English was. All she could think of right now was the theme song from Adventure Time, and it hummed in the back of her head in a tinny tone that wouldn't shut off.

The inadvertent gaze was cut off by a wholly deliberate knocking-over of the straw holder and the diner business returned to its usual chaos. For the rest of the afternoon, an awkward air existed between the two waitresses, engulfing them in a rapid descent towards rock bottom.

* * *

Precariously, Dani propped herself onto the ledge of the open window, leaning her back against the kitchen wall as she knifed at an apple. She sculpted the fruit effortlessly and popped a piece into her mouth; the juice livened her taste buds, but she could still taste a trace of artificial green apple on the inside of her teeth.

Her tongue grazed past her lower lip and the taste sharpened. She cut another fleshy apple piece and placed it under her tongue, allowing the real and the artificial tastes to intertwine together.

She wasn't that much high off of the ground floor, with her apartment being only on the third level; the streets were largely empty by this time of the early morning. The bruised, purple sky bled a shade of red, creating a gradient of unknowing comfort. Dani hung one foot outside the window and let the cool surface of the bricks chill herself to the bones.

Sunlight crept slowly – it began to move past the opposite side of the road.

The cellphone buzzed on her lap.

_'Milkshakes monday again?'_

It would be a crime to say that Dani and Becca had been spending a lot of time together, because they certainly did. 'A lot' definitely wouldn't have sufficed how much they saw each other within twenty-four hours; other than her waitressing hours, she was always seen with Becca close by.

Buzz.

_'That's my Rockstar.'_

Behind the text message was a little wink smiley-face, and whenever this was in play, the comment could go two ways. Her lips curled upwards, a delighted smirk plastered on her chapped lips. It was amusing how Becca had a nickname for her in every occasion, but on most days, she called her Rockstar.

Before the pink, she used to call her (and still did) Smurfette.

In the span of message exchanges, sunlight had travelled its way across the carless road and onto the cement pavement. Scrutinising that one spot where Dani had shared an innocent kiss with Santana, how they had held hands together and walked back from the diner, her heart swooned with rejoiced nostalgia.

There was a knock on the door. Who in their right mind would be paying her a visit at four in the morning?

"Dani, it's me, open up."

Santana.

Dumping the apple core into the thrash, she swiftly balanced her body weight onto the window ledge and pounced onto the kitchen floor. Her fingers were a sticky mess; cleaning them off on a stray cloth, she practically sprinted across the apartment to open the door. Still, she could not explain the sudden burst of energy that generated in her chest.

"Hey, Santana, a little early, don't you think?"

The Latina grinned slightly and pawed through the threshold. With her hands stuffed deep into the back-pockets of her jeans, Dani couldn't tell whether or not if they were clammy from the heat or from nervousness. A breeze entered from the doorway – uncomfortable with the morning coldness, Dani straightened her tattered t-shirt (perhaps it might have been a good idea to have changed before seeing her ex) and shut the door.

There was a time when Santana would saunter into the apartment like it was her home too, but now it just felt like a strange, strange land.

"I just wanted to come by to pick up my stuff," Awkwardly, she took out her hands. Now Dani was sure that she was anxious to no ends.

Cocking an eyebrow, Dani flashed her infamous lopsided smile, "And you just assumed that I would be awake?"

"Well, I just... thought, that you would, you know, stay awake for the, um, sunrise."

There was also the time when Dani and Santana used to share their secret spot in the diner and watch the sun rise into the sky with its gloriousness. The last time that they had even gone on one of their little morning escapades was more than a month ago.

"You're lucky that I am,"

"You're not a morning person, I know."

The Feeling was terrible and Dani was growingly becoming accustomed to the awkwardness that drowned out her train of quiet thoughts. Santana crossed her legs and then untangled herself, clearly apprehensive with the palpable tension in the apartment.

"Anyway, most of your stuff are in the box under the dinner table."

As she shuffled through the things in the cardboard box, Dani plopped herself onto one of her armchairs, trying whatever was necessary to dampen the discomfort between them. It was difficult, because a part of her knew that she still felt comfortable with Santana, but simultaneously another pressed on that their relationship had already disintegrated to mere strangers.

But Santana said that she still loved her – how could a stranger love another stranger?

"I can't find my iPod, I think it fell under you bed one night..."

The small conversation moved towards the bedroom. Dani looked outside; the sunlight refused to come and the apartment stayed shrouded in darkness. Her cellphone buzzed with a notification and she promptly checked it out of habit.

_'Miss you, Rockstar.'_

Santana crouched down and groped at the dusty floor.

"So, how are you and Owl Eyes? Girlfriends yet?"

"Her name is Becca," Dani repeated, sighing with exasperation.

"Well? Answer the question."

"Last time I checked Santana, you're not my mother, or my _girlfriend_. That's Brittany."

"Is she, or is she not?"

"No,"

"Really?" The Latina straightened her back, a mad look in her eyes as she stared at the annoyed girl. Hanging off of her finger was a cotton low-back bikini underwear, and in that moment, Dani couldn't breath.

"You smelled of sex the moment I walked into this apartment."

* * *

_**#Time passed by pretty quickly in this chapter. Rather short, I might add. I have tons on my plate right now and finals are coming up; anyway, I hope this chapter will send some drama in motion. Lacks Brittany though.**_

_**#Send me some reviews please. :)**_


	6. The Lebanese Talk

**Chapter 5: The Lebanese Talk**

She should have taken Spanish in high school.

Or maybe it was a good thing that she didn't, because it probably would be best for her that she didn't understand what her crazed ex-girlfriend was screaming about at four in the morning. The moment she chucked the knickers aside with a sickened expression on her face, a string of foreign profanities (as Dani believed it to be) filled the room.

In all honesty, Dani was not, at first, taken by surprise by Santana's childish outburst. It felt all too familiar, and she had become accustomed to her fiery temper. Hell, she even felt slightly guilty for whatever wrongdoing she had done with this new stranger, Becca.

It was all an incredible deja vu; comparing this morning to the night that the whole Brit-cident thing took place, all that contrasted the two were the constant complaints from Dani's Japanese neighbours, who threatened to call the police every five minutes. In retrospect, why was Santana so mad at the fact that Rachel had moved in with Brittany? And what right did she have to be throwing a fit now, in Dani's apartment?

"Stop,"

She doesn't.

"Santana,"

Still going strong.

"Tana!"

The girl stopped dead in her tracks. It almost made Dani laugh because her ex-girlfriend resembled the pained and shocked look a wounded deer would have – all she needed was a pair of broken antlers propped onto that extensively long weave of hers.

"You can't be angry that I'm with Becca now," Dani whispered, her voice even and hard with determination. She was actually quite surprised with the amount of confidence she was portraying right now. "You're with Brittany. We're not an item anymore."

There was a hurtful look in Santana's eyes that struck the heart like an ice pick. It dug in deep and grasped on with an intention that it would never let go. "You can't tell me how to feel."

"That goes both ways, Tana. You can't tell me who I can or cannot love."

"Are you telling me that you love Becca? Just after meeting her a month ago?"

Frustration boiled and Dani could feel the Feeling starting an uprising in her guts. It was typical for Santana to be difficult – it was in her nature, even in the bedroom she was a hard tease – but this time she was being more unreasonable than playful. It was she who walked away from Dani, left for Lesbos Island with Brittany, and got back together with her high school sweetheart, so what right did she have at all?

"I fell in love with you in three weeks," Dani quietly said, her lips barely parting for fear that they would tremble. "I knew I loved you even before you knew my last name."

There was no pause, and there was no beat. Santana closed in on the space, and they just stood there, challenging each other with a gaze so strong it could cut through the tension in half. If only time could be stopped, and if only Dani had less control over herself, because all she could desperately hope for was for the counterpart to lean in, and kiss her right on the lips.

Santana breathed, chest heaving deeply with a certain lust that would only lead to angry make-up sex, but this time it was different. "Tell me that you don't love me anymore."

Now, Dani didn't like to lie. From the day she was born until this moment, she had always tried her best to tell truths, and if not, half-truths. When it came to Santana, she _never_ lied. Sure she joked around with her once or twice, telling her that she was switching sides to loving guys instead on some days just to see that adorable look of bewilderment on her then-girlfriend's face. For the most part of it, however, Dani followed a full policy of honesty with Santana.

She cupped the Latina's face (she had skin smoother than a baby's ass) and stared at her dead in the eyes, memorising every touch and gaze that they had shared, and most importantly, her face. Dani made a promise to both Santana and herself that she would never break the former's heart, and she wanted to keep it that way.

"I don't love you."

* * *

Becca did all she could to bring Dani back to her usual full-circle self, showing up consistently for their daily morning pancakes and nightly cheese fries rendezvous. It was obvious that the girl was in a deep rut, but what Becca didn't understand was that her girlfriend acted as if nothing had happened. She waitressed (she even got named the Employee of the Month!), she rehearsed with One Three Hill, she watched midnight movies with Becca – she existed with such normalcy that was growingly becoming suspicious.

Dani seemed unaffected, but there was something different about her. It was like she was trying too hard to be herself that suddenly she felt strange in her own skin.

A benefit of being the Employee of the Month was having four additional vacation days. She wasn't sure whether to call in a vacation day or a sick day – on one hand, she needed a day all to herself, but on the other, she was heartsick.

The phone was pressed in between her cheek and the beaten pillow.

"_Sorry Rockstar, I'm busy with university bullshit today. Apparently this New York trip isn't all fun – there's actually real work to do."_

"It's fine. I'll probably stay home, or something."

"_You should head out for a bit, go hang out with Starchild or something. It's not good to hole yourself up in there for too long."_

"Elliot has classes at NYU, and it's okay. I'll be fine."

"_Professor says cellphones are not allowed in prehistoric times. I guess I'll see you 2,000 years later."_

"Enjoy the museum, bye."

"_Love you,"_

"Me too."

Was it appropriate to have said that? The more Dani thought about her choice of words, the more she felt that it didn't make any sense at all. What did it even mean – that she loved herself too, or that she returned Becca the love as well? As she laid there groggily with the sunlight flooding into her bedroom, she didn't feel odd saying what she did – she thought that it was accurate albeit it being inappropriate.

She was attracted to Becca; there was a dominance and confidence in her that made her appear much more admirable than she would come across as. In most relationships, Dani had always been the one to act first – to call first, to flirt first, to kiss first, to "put the moves" first – but this time, Becca did. It was nice, really, that for once Dani could sit on the passenger seat as opposed to being behind the wheel.

Becca was sure of what she wanted, which was what made her different from Santana, who certainly was just a wanderer.

When Dani met Santana, she was a college dropout with aspiring dreams to become something big, someone _famous_. She was just like any other foolish eighteen year-old who believed that the world was a perfect place and that dreams do come true (courtesy of Disney movies, thank you very much); she became one of those waitresses who begged for extra tips to pay for the steep rent.

She was just another one of those faceless dreamers in the sea of mass – why did she have to become someone that Dani would care so much for? Of all the people in the borders of the New York state, she just had to connect with Santana Lopez, the girl who got her heart broken by her high school sweetheart.

Then again, Dani knew what she was getting into. She knew she was going to be the rebound girl, so why in God's name did she push forward with their relationship?

The phone sounded under her palm.

_'Hey Dani'_

It took one word and her name for her morning to take a turn for disaster – what was Santana doing texting her, and much less at eight in the morning? There was nothing left in the apartment for the Latina to pick up anymore, and Dani had certainly made it clear that they should both do the mature thing – accept each other's decisions.

Apparently, to Santana, being mature meant giving the cold shoulder and rolling her eyes whenever "Owl Eyes" came around to the diner.

_'grab a bit?'_

The atrocious spelling and lack of any sentence structure suddenly made Dani wonder what game her ex was playing; was this just a late April Fool's joke? The last time that both women had spoken was the early morning when they had fought with one another, and it definitely left everything – even their relationship – in complete shambles.

_'tis is brittany!'_

That made more sense. Why not?

_'awesum! Now i'll just delete ur number off of here.'_

Well then.

* * *

"Hey Dani,"

As Brittany swung her bag over the chair, she waved at the waitress for a chocolate bear-claw and cookie dough milkshake. Dani, on the other hand, chose not to question her friend's (could your ex-girlfriend's girlfriend be considered your friend?) choice of brunch, and instead continued to shoot at the snooker balls. She looked quite calm and collected, but actually she was freaking out quite a bit on the inside.

"Hey,"

So what if Santana hated her sexed-up guts, as she had called them? There was nothing wrong with getting to know Brittany a little better, and she seemed like a nice, amusing human being to be friends with. She had a childlike quality that made people picture a baby girl prancing around in the fields with stray unicorns and pink bears.

Dani sipped on her iced tea and leaned against her snooker cue, eyes peering over towards Brittany, who had decidedly plumped herself down onto the velvety couch.

"This feels like dragon fur,"

"Dragons have scales, Brit."

"You have a dragon!"

"No wait," Dani's sass was surely backfiring with Brittany, and she wasn't sure how she felt about this. Even when she had came out of her mother's womb she had cheeked at the doctors who held her and the nurses who cleaned her, so it was awfully unnerving that she was stumbling on her words.

The blond girl munched on her bear-claw and took a careful gulp of her milkshake; the crumbs rolled freely over the collars of her blouse and Dani suddenly had the desire to go over and clean her up. She suppressed the urge back to where it came from and downed her iced tea quickly.

"Oh, brain freeze."

Brittany giggled at the cringing Dani, peeling at what was left of the claw onto her plate. Watching her existing there in the dim lighting of the cafe was like witnessing a cosmic wonder being, who was now holding up an unusually-shaped chocolate spongecake.

"Look Dan, I made it into a dragon."

She was just full of surprises today – first she had to impersonate Santana (not deliberately, though) and give her a heart attack, and then she just _had _to go and call Dani 'Dan'. It wasn't a surprise but rather a great shock, and suddenly she needed reassurance that Brittany was an ex-girlfriend's girlfriend, and not her friend.

"That's lovely, Brit."

And with that, she promptly popped it into her mouth with a sheepish grin.

"I met a dragon once and he was hungry, so I made him some eggs. He didn't seem to like them, so I gave him the leftover turkey in the fridge, but he didn't like that either."

"What did he eat in the end?"

Brittany eyed the other vanilla bear-claw displayed in the window and was clearly distracted. "He kept watching Mr. Tubbington while he ate his food, and-"

"The dragon ate your cat?"

"What, no!" Whipping her head swiftly and giving Dani her full attention, she almost choked on the piece of chocolate dragon that was caught in between her teeth. "He just wanted to eat the Snickers bar."

"You feed your cat chocolate?"

"So he can poop out chocolate, duh."

That was perhaps the most half-witted yet interesting conversation that Dani had ever had since being a kindergartener. She liked the simplicity, she liked the lack of hurricane emotions and whatnots, she liked having no care about everyone and everything else – basically, she liked the wholesome embodiment that was Brittany S. Pierce.

The milkshake-sipper didn't make Dani's heart jump, but it was doing some weird thing that made her feel exceptionally comfortable, after taking into consideration that they weren't all that close, or even friends. They were just friendly with each other and mutually dated the same hot Latina.

"So, Dani, I wanted to ask you something actually..."

Her iced tea had dried up; to ease over the nonexistent awkwardness (it was just pleasantly at place with Brittany), Dani picked up her snooker cue and continued with her ball-bumping game. She nodded for Brittany to proceed with her gaiety and question, which most probably had something to do with growing an apple with a strawberry.

"I was hoping if you could teach me your sapphic ways."

Third surprise of the day, and this came as quite the shocker. Dani almost shoved the cue across the room; Brittany had the talent to somehow always make the rockstar come apart with stupor. No words dared to come out and so she just put her back against the snooker table, gaping at the blond silently.

"You know how I like guys and girls, and I'm really good in the bedroom but I'm not very familiar with people that don't have a-"

"I get what you're saying! Okay," Dani hurried, ordering another cup of iced tea while settling down next to Brittany. This was going to be one hell of a brunch conversation. "But haven't you been with Santana before?"

"Yeah, but Santana's a real Lebanese and I'm just half-Lebanese, and I need to learn how to be a full one so I can Lebanese with her right."

Dani figured that Brittany was referring to 'lesbians' as opposed to 'Lebanese', and the face of determination was just too difficult to be ruined by grammatical matters. As she straightened her back and combed through the pink hair with her fingers nervously, she knocked her brain around for an appropriate answer.

Really though, nothing was appropriate nor inappropriate when it came to Brittany.

"Britt, remember what I told you that night we played superheroes?"

"Squirrels cannot be officially married,"

"What else?"

"When benches say 'wet paint' and not to touch it, don't sit."

"And?"

"You'll find me a gay rhino,"

"Finally..."

"If you love something, go for it."

Dani smiled. Although it might have taken a while for Brittany to have gotten to the point that was trying to be made, she alteady knew it from the start. And it was also quite flattering that she still remembered everything Dani had said to the drunken her on that month-ago night.

"If you love Santana, go. Being lesbian is just a label – all that it comes down to in the end is that you love that person."

Brittany dipped her chin shyly and smiled endearingly.

"I love Santana."

_I love her too._

* * *

**Note: Here's a little Brittani put into the mix. I thought they are two really interesting characters, so why not put them together and create a dynamic duo? Not much of Santana in this chapter, but am trying to set up some circumstances for more drama. Would love to read some reviews! You guys are grand and the loveliest, cannot get it wrapped around my head that this story already has 60 follows! I send my gratitude to everyone who reads it, both lovers and haters. Again: _thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks :)_**


	7. The New Era

**Chapter 6: **_The New Era_

After having brunch with Brittany, Dani had spent the last few hours of her 'vacation day' watching reruns of _Charmed_ in her bedroom. Nighttime was slowly closing in and she realised that she had been lethargic all day and painfully wasted a full four hours of time doing completely nothing. Removing the heated laptop that sat on her stomach, she glanced at her phone for the time.

Six o'clock. She was already into the fifth episode of the third season and her brain was growing tired of staring at a bright screen. Rubbing her eyes, Dani slipped out of bed and stretched herself out.

The Skype icon on her screen began to spring about in its place.

_'Hey Dani, free in the next half hour?'_

It was typical of Rachel to over-communicate, if that was even a word. Her phone had died about an hour ago, and she had been too engrossed with the TV show to plug the charger into the power socket. The moment the phone screen lit up, a flood of notifications, including missed calls and unread text messages, overwhelmed her phone to the point of turning itself off again.

_'Meet us over at that bar two streets down from the diner, you know the one with the red door and big crazy sign?'_

The place was better known as The Big Red Door. Basically, bars were created by drunk people – who lacked creativity – for the drunk people.

_'This isn't an invitation, Santana and Brittany want you there. Oh, and bring your Georgia Girlfriend.'_

* * *

Donning her classy leather pants, Dani shuffled her way through the murky waters of strangers and reached the booth where her other friends were at. Becca rose to peck her on the lips; grasping onto her hand, she pulled her Rockstar onto her lap, causing the latter to squeal with shocked delight. Santana sent a grunt from the other end of the booth, but it gets drowned out by the loud chatter from all corners.

"Hey babe,"

Smilingly hugging Becca, Dani couldn't help but graze her eyes over towards Santana's direction. The Latina's face monstrously contorted; seeing that, her stomach flipped forwards and the backwards. Calling Becca the name she had used to call Santana was doing things and creating an atmosphere of either tension or honest-to-God sickness.

Well, she did have too much sugar today.

An order of two Coronas with lime slices was placed onto the table – Dani's usual order. She turned her head and kissed thanks to Becca; grabbing onto one of the bottles, she took a quick swig before resuming her attention to the television.

"Holy shit, is that Mercedes?"

Dani couldn't tell who had said that because the speakers began to blare out another one of Mercedes Jones's new hit single. Clearly rising to the occasion, Mercedes pulled Tina and Kurt out of the booths and onto the dance floor (but really, there was no dance floor, so they looked quite ridiculous), while Rachel brooded secretly but plastered on the brightest grin she could muster.

"Oh my God, they have a jukebox! Santana, come on, can we go check it out? The leprechaun told me that the last piece of the rainbow that would lead me to the pot of gold is hidden somewhere magical and musical."

"I'm kind of tired, Britt. Can we go in a bit?"

"But-"

Interjecting, Dani stood and held out her hand. "Come on, Bree. Let's go."

The name naturally rolled off of her tongue, and suddenly she became worried that Santana – or even Becca, for that matter – would react badly to the new nickname for Brittany. It sounded so personal, as if another step closing the mutual gap between Dani and the grinning blonde. Taking her hand, they both left the scene before Santana could speak against her with spite.

As Brittany pasted her cheek against the glass pane of the jukebox, her eyes shone with youth, the gold light reflecting against her blue irises. The image of this innocent yet saucy dancer burned into Dani's mind, and she needed to pause for a bit before she reacted to the unanswered question.

"So, like the place so far?"

With a smug smirk and another mouthful of the Corona in her hand, the sarcasm crept its way out easily. "Yes, stuck in a booth with my ex-girlfriend _and _my girlfriend, I am absolutely loving it."

"Oh, come on. Join me on my hunt for the last piece of the rainbow – that'll make you feel better. Then when I get that pot of gold, we'll go get as many bear-claws as possible and give them to San and Owl Eyes, so they'll be happy, too."

"I'd love that."

Flipping through the selections of hillbilly country love songs to heavy ACDC rock oldies, Brittany bit her bottom lip in distracted disappointment. It was amusing how her eyebrows would furrow at certain songs, particularly the ones ranging back to the sixties, and the way that they would unknit whenever her eyes scanned over songs that she had done in Glee Club.

Brittany looked to Dani hopefully; fishing for a quarter in her pants pocket, the leather-clad girl punched the coin in and waited for the blonde to select her song. It didn't occur to her that she should have checked the song that Brittany had picked, but it was definitely because she trusted the girl enough, and not just in her music taste.

The two girls walked back to the booth as the speakers started to sound, and Dani almost dropped the beer bottle onto the floor.

"_It's like, he doesn't hear a word I say / His mind is somewhere far away / And I don't know how to get there."_

Kurt shot Dani a sharp look, eyes wide and mouth agape. "Oh my fucking lord, is that Dani?"

"It was one time, and I was like, fifteen, okay!" Burrowing herself in shame, Dani hugged Becca and hid behind her girlfriend's tresses. Everyone whooped with excitement, but Santana stayed unusually and awkwardly quiet.

"Don't resist, Rockstar." Grabbing the other Corona like a mike, Becca winked seductively. "You know you want to."

This set Santana on fire.

"_Like fire and rain / You can drive me insane / But I can't stay mad at you for anything,"_

Everyone became drunk with passionate love (and the help of some vodka shots). In the next moment everyone was prancing about on the dance floor, a mess of grinding bodies that merged with the familiar voice of their friend that boomed from the soundbox. Despite the embarrassment of being featured in some (literally) garage band song, Dani was enjoying her night more than she had initially thought she would.

"_And I wouldn't change a thing!"_

Stepping away from her seat, Santana pushed her way through the crowds of moving sweat, squeezing her way out of the big red door. A feeling of discomfort settled in, pulling Dani away from her dancing friends and instead sucking her into the black hole of sadness that was her ex-girlfriend. Brittany was seemingly oblivious to her girlfriend's departure – well, she did have about five too many drinks.

"Hey you,"

"Oh, um, hey."

The two girls just stood with a distance between them, an air of unpleasant awkwardness hanging over them. All Dani wanted to do was move closer to her and hug her by the waist, most hopefully as a friendly gesture, but she knew that it would never be as innocent as it was an act of lust. When Santana was nervous, she had clammy hands – but this time, they hung coolly over the iron fence as she gazed out into the river that split the city into two.

A balmy summer breeze blew across Dani's sticky skin; propping her elbow onto the fence and her head onto her hand, she unconsciously began to bite softly at her already-short fingernails.

"What's up?"

"Nothing much,"

She wanted to say something – anything, really. For one thing, Dani couldn't stand the unbearable silence that stayed between them like some permanent plague any longer, and for the other, she disliked seeing Santana being, well, un-Santana-like.

It was unlike the Latina to be so antisocial and quiet, and to be honest, it was making the other girl slightly more and more unnerved. Balancing her weight on alternative legs every five minutes, it was obvious that Dani was quickly becoming jittery with anxiousness.

"How have you been lately?"

"Okay,"

Every time Dani tried to reach forward to Santana, the latter would pull back.

"Anything interesting happen at work today?"

"No,"

"Gunther still being a big fat bitch?"

"Yeah,"

The mindless conversation was numbing her brain and she was growing tired of it. A conversation took two people, and if one didn't want to put in the effort to hold up even half of the talking action, then what good would the conversation even come down to?

"Brittany seems like she's having fun,"

"Yeah."

Dani leaned towards Santana, closing the gap in between them. When their forearms touch, the Latina almost side-stepped and bolted away, but her feet stayed glued to the stone pavement. It was one of those odd moments of being too close for comfort.

"Are you?"

There was a pregnant pause before she answered; sighing loudly, Santana's dry skin rubbed against Dani's sticky sweat. Neither girls seemed to give much thought to that fact that they were practically within kissing proximity, and the air of awkwardness somewhat dissipated.

"You should, the stuff you people have on me right now is blackmail gold."

A laughter slipped out from Santana, and Dani couldn't help but join in with a soft chuckle. The shoulder-bumping was small, but it certainly was better than the physical and emotional distance that used to put the two apart.

"Yeah,"

Dani touched Santana's cheek with her plump lips and grabbed her hand.

"Come inside, it's getting warm out here."

The Latina stared and simply smiled, "Okay."

* * *

_**#Hey guys, chapter's pretty small. From now onwards, I will be writing mini-chapters and updating weekly (twice sometimes, depending on how many reviews I get ;)) so the story will become more progressive. The whole point of doing this is because I have my seniors finals up, and they're pretty important in determining if I go to university or not, and also I like the idea of having small chapters so it won't risk me over-writing shits inside. :)**_

_**#Thanks for the tons of support guys, it means a lot that you read whatever bullcrap I put on here. A lot of the stuff that I write are related to whatever things happening in my life, most particularly the whole Dani-Santana Cold War, and it's awesome that you guys love the whole thing. **_

_**#Review, review, review! It'll certainly put me in a writing mood. Pizza works just fine as well, by the way!**_


	8. The Four AM

**Chapter 7: **_The Four AM_

Becca had left town and they decided to try out the infamous long-distance relationship. Of course, Dani was all gung-ho for it, and she never had the intention to lose interest – but slowly, she did. Well, they both did. It would have been a lie to say that neither wanted to maintain their relationship, because in all honesty it was just a silly little fling.

Nothing more, nothing less. Just a fling.

Or was it?

Having dated Santana had certainly messed up Dani's dating game. For one thing, she had known that she loved that beautiful Latina within less than a month; she knew she had feelings for Becca, and yet she didn't dare act on them. Her heart had always chastised her not to do anything on impulse with 'Owl Eyes', because (a) Dani wanted to be sure, (b) Dani was sure.

Oh, and let's not forget (c): She wasn't over Santana.

Not completely, anyway. Lesbi-honestly, ever since getting with Becca, all Dani had been thinking about was (ironically) Santana. After a little warming-up at The Big Red Door the other night, they had started texting again – but only after the Latina had awkwardly asked Dani for her phone number.

"Hey, Dani?"

"What's up?"

"Can I, um, get your number? I've sort of, um, y'know, lost it."

"You left the napkin in the back pocket of your jeans again, didn't ya?"

"Uh-"

"I keep telling you to check your pockets before putting them in the washer. That one time – and thank God you had me – I found a twenty in those butt-pockets."

Santana blushed, "_Have_, not _had_."

It was just a little poke-fun at Santana, because she was sometimes as absent-minded as any other dear old man rocking his chair in the living room. The very first time Dani had given her her number was when they had first met, and being the silly goose she was, Santana had thrown her jeans in the washer without checking for the napkin that Dani had penned her number on for the Latina.

Four days. It took Santana four days to approach Dani again for her number, and the girl simply (and laughingly) wrote on the former's arm in big fat cursive writing, in case she "throws herself into the washer this time".

And that comment at the end – so subtle, so reassuring, yet simultaneously so confusing. It was comforting to know that Santana still cared about Dani and their relationship, really. Even now, waking up in her bed, Dani found herself smiling slightly at the thought of that. But she knew Santana can't really _really_ have her, because she had Brittany.

"_Dani, Dani, you're so irresistible / Dani, Dani, you're oh so very fine._"

The sound of Santana's mellifluous voice sang through her mind and into her heart; her feet grew cold and Dani hid herself back under the covers.

Another day ahead without Santana. She coaxed herself out of bed.

* * *

"I got this," Grabbing the plates at the window, Rachel softened her gaze at Dani and sashayed away with the Oreo milkshake and plate of Breakfast Set C: blueberry pancakes drowned in Hershey's chocolate syrup.

Dani didn't have enough time to respond, and so she let the diva do whatever she wanted. It was painfully obvious that Rachel was handling her with child-gloves, after hearing about Becca returning back to Georgia _and_ that the "promising" (her words, not Dani's) relationship had come to a dead-end. But Dani wasn't complaining – despite that little diva's overbearing attitude and need to baby her to death, she always offered her a plate of comfort-waffles (as Rachel liked to call them) every morning.

Free waffles, who could turn that down?

Flitting back, Rachel looked at Dani. "So, any plans tonight?"

"Oh, nothing. Just gonna be another night in."

"Again?" She furrowed her eyebrows, and Dani felt slightly irritated. She could stay in with ice-cream if she wanted to, so why was Rachel giving her the pointed disappointment her parents had used to shoot her down with?

"Berry, leave Cotton Candy alone. If she wants to stay at home and watch reruns of Germany's Next Top Model, then she will do just that. You're not her mother, so... scram."

Les-bionic to the rescue, and off Rachel went, but of course with an offended look.

Dani turned to Santana and cocked an eyebrow, "Germany? Why Germany?"

"Because German girls are hot," Rolling her eyes – as it it was the most obvious answer in the entirety of the world – the Latina began to sift through the sea of forks and knives on the counter. "Any girl that can speak foreign is hot."

"_þú ert hálfviti_."

"What?"

"I took a beginner's course in Icelandic when I was still in school," Fishing the forks out, Dani placed them on one side and knives on the other. "That's very foreign, right?'

"(Icelandic? Of all the languages that you took, you decided to take Icelandic?) Yeah, very foreign."

"Very hot."

"Mm, yeah, sure."

With the signature smirk on her face, Dani glanced at Santana.

"I just called you an idiot."

And with that, she walked away to tend to a venting customer, who was outraged over the amount of ice in his _iced_ lemon tea.

* * *

It was another night at home; rising from the couch (after slumping onto it when she got home at 1 am, and it was 4 am now) groggily, Dani shuffled towards the kitchen to make a cup of green tea. That was what she needed now – a big mug of hot, fresh caffeine. Changing from the midnight shift to the morning shift and then the afternoon and finally, to an earlier night shift, had really messed up her sleeping schedule. She found herself falling asleep for less than four hours a day, sometimes.

Santana called it the 'Jet-lag of Jet-lags', and Dani just rolled her eyes. The term stuck, anyway.

Taking a sip from the mug and successfully burning her lips off, she left the tea to cool off lonesomely in the corner of the counter. She propped herself onto the opposite table, and leaned against the coldness of the marble; the only thing she hated about summer was the crazy heat. She never was a 'high temperature' kind of girl.

The doorbell rang and Dani cocked an eyebrow. A visitor at four-eleven in the morning? The last time someone came over this early was when she had the best dang cheesecake in the entirety of New York City, and something else about an incident and _whore-kisses_. The bell rang again, and she contemplated whether or not to open the door and unleash another god-awful argument.

Was she developing a phobia of doorbells? She couldn't tell.

Her hoarse voice croaked, "Who is it?"

"Dani, it's us, open up!"

_Us_, how very descriptive, Dani thought. Although she could tell in an instant that it had been Brittany's voice on the other side of the door, she still wasn't quite sure what 'us' entailed. Did she bring extra company? And why in God's name was she doing at Dani's threshold at four-thirteen in the morning?

A leap of faith – Dani opened the door.

"Hey Dani!" As if on cue, Rachel emerged from behind Brittany, gave the girl a quick hug, and promptly went on her way to make herself at home. "Well, since you keep insisting a night-in, we'll bring the party here then."

"What does that mean..."

Santana threw Dani a look, and she wasn't quite sure what it meant. An uneasy but surely devious smirk grew on her face.

"Welcome to your first ever _Lima Heights _sleepover, bitches. I bite."

Oh, how Dani knew.

* * *

_**Hey guys! Sorry that I haven't been updating, but I've been seriously buckled down in studying for finals and stuff. But guess what? Exams are OVER, thank God. This chapter is pretty short and fairly uneven, but think of it as the "disaster-setter". Do your really think nothing would happen when you put those four in a room together, at four in the morning?**_

_**Many thanks to the readers who stuck through this way-too-long hiatus, and for those that took the time to have a read. :) Hearts to all!**_


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